Another After
by Max Salsa
Summary: At the end of After, Tom and Becca and their parents, plus Clara were running from Dr. Willner's rampage. The story continues...


After Fanfic: Another After

By NeoDude

Summary: Spoilers. What happens after Tom and Becca run, with their parents, to find somewhere safe... somewhere without what happened after? R&R... May contain slight drug references, caused by Silas.

Disclaimer: After is not mine, will not be mine, and other good stuff like that. Yay! Kudos to Francine Prose for a good book...

Note: Since this takes place directly following the story, I'm continuing its numbering.

* * *

**fifteen**

Regardless of how far west we were going, one thing was clear: Clara's minivan was a gas guzzler. And a thought struck me: How far did the trail go? Could Dr. Willner trace our credit cards and follow us, make a task force of brainwashed parents to round us up and execute us? I sincerely wished that Silas had left me a bag of weed so I could go paranoid and figure out what else my clean side was missing... but then, I also had the resource of Becca, still sleeping next to me. And though Brian wasn't much of a theorist, he could talk sense into my ideas, and help me figure out what to do.

The tank running on empty, my dad pulled into a gas station, paid the man inside, then filled the tank. We were gone in a matter of five minutes, although I wished it was shorter. Every second was a second more that Dr. Willner could catch up to us.

Becca stirred next to me. "Tom... where are we now?"

I grabbed the gas receipt that had been carelessly put out of the way. "Somewhere in Pennsylvania, by the looks of it..." I hoped we were in Amish country, where they barely had schools in the first place. Dr. Willner would get hung up on all the Amish people not able to help him at all, and maybe we'd even lose him. But then, it was a big country... there were several places to lose ourselves. I remember a sign for the Ohio state line appearing shortly before I fell asleep, my arm around Becca.

o o o

When I woke, a few hours later according to the van's clock, Becca was already awake but enjoying being next to me; Brian was staring absently out the window; Becca's mom had fallen asleep after being worried about her husband; and my dad was just about to stop for gas again. But this time, the station was unattended, so he reluctantly pulled out his credit card. However, a few moments later, a police car – the county sherrif, according to the car itself – followed us to the station, and the officer got out; it was indeed the sheriff. He went over to my dad, and I silently opened the door a little.

"...help you, officer?"

"I have this here, from an officer called to Central High School over in Massachusetts..." The sheriff removed a paper from his pocket. "It says I'm supposed to arrest you, your son Tom, one Becca Sawyer that is rumored to be with you, and all other occupants of your car." He looked up from the sheet he'd been reading. "Mind if I ask where you're off to?"

"Trust me, you're better off not knowing..."

"Fair enough, sir. But just what are you running from?"

"Tell me this, officer: Have kids been disappearing from the school, and their parents become oddly detached and totally compliant with all school officials?"

"Funny you should mention that... We did have a junior get taken several days ago. Got sent to Operation Turnaround... you've heard of that, I suppose?"

"Too often," my dad said gravely, his face pale. "We're on the run so we're not all either sent ourselves, or shot on the spot..."

The officer looked as if he was seriously considering this. "May I get a look inside your car, sir? You can finish with that gas pump there..."  
"Certainly." He went back to filling the tank.

The sheriff, meanwhile, slid open the door I'd been listening through. "Which would, according to your descriptions in the warrant, make you Tom and Becca. Central High students?"

I nodded. Becca said, "Yes... we're trying to get away from the grief and crisis counselor... there's not many people left at our school. And that school that the shooting happened at, Pleasant Valley... there's nobody left. They all got sent to Operation Turnaround, like I suspect our school was."

"You don't say!" The sheriff looked aghast, terrified at the thought that the schools themselves were commiting so many capital offenses right under the police's noses. He turned back to my dad, now done with the gas pump. "Sir, based on what I've heard, I'm going to let you go, and pass on the word that this warrant should _not_ be served. There's nothing saying that Central won't issue another one that lists you as more dangerous, so run while you can... but I'll help in whatever way I can. I wish you luck... and know that the police forces of the United States will be behind you. Just don't do anything to make you guilty anyway... I clocked you at 78 on that 70 interstate, which is why I'm here. So be careful." He went back to his car, and began to drive away, talking on his radio. Something in the back of my mind feared he was working for Dr. Willner, but I ignored it.

"Dad... what are we going to do?"

"That officer was putting himself on the line for our cause... We should go while we have the chance." He got in the car, closed the door, and pulled away.

All of a sudden, Becca said quietly to me, "Do you think he was working for Dr. Willner?"

"Same thing I was thinking... but no. He would have arrested us on the spot, speeding or not."

"You know... it's nice to have someone that thinks like I do. It's... comforting, somehow." She kissed me as thanks. "Thanks, Tom... for coming for me, for getting me out of there."  
"Hey, I'm not the hero here... You were the one that made Dr. Willner mad."  
"You helped," she reminded.

"OK, so maybe a little. But you held the brush..."

"Good point. You're right..." She sighed, then glanced quizzically at me. "Isn't the guy normally the macho, take-charge person?"

"Depends on who the girl in. In this case the girl had far more spunk than anyone realized," I said teasingly.

"And is that why you like me?"

It was the question that logically followed, but I didn't have a creative answer ready. So I just told her the truth. "Yes. Yes, that's it."

"Really? Well, maybe I'm spunkier than you realize... but this isn't the place," she added. "If your dad and Clara decide to stop somewhere when it gets late..." She trailed off, but I got the idea. We then settled in for what we knew would be several more hours of driving. We leaned against each other, and we both fell asleep that way.

o o o

At the end of those several hours was a small inn on the western end of Indiana, near the Illinois state line. My dad and Clara went into the office, and came back extremely happy. "I was worried that with all of us, this would be expensive, but the innkeeper said the place was dead... he has a block of two pairs of adjoining rooms he'll let us take for the price of one room. He said that as long as we stayed..." He held out the four keys. "This is was I was thinking: Basically adults in one pair, kids in another. Sound OK?"

Everyone was in agreement. What that meant was Becca and I in one room, with Brian in the adjoining one; then my dad and Clara in another, and Becca's mom in that adjoining room. I carried Becca and my bags into one of the rooms, and Brian took the one next to it. Our parents were several rooms away. I gently placed our bags on two soft chairs in the back of the room.

"Tom..." Becca said seductively from the bed. I went over to her, and she pulled me down into a make out session lasting more than a few minutes. Afterwards, she rectulantly got up, rummaged through her bag for what I supposed were pajamas, and started to undress to put them on. Then she stopped. "Hmm..." She stuffed them back in her bag, but took her clothes off anyway, leaving her in just undergarments. She grabbed a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste from her bag, and went to brush her teeth, leaving me to consider what had just happened. She was coming on to me... and I had to say, I liked it. I stripped down tomy underwear, also getting my toiletry items from my bag. When she returned I went and brushed my own teeth, while looking at myself in the mirror. If this mess didn't get resloved soon, my face would freeze in a state of terror. I knew that Becca wasn't doing too well either, but then...

I returned to the bed, and slid in, Becca already there. She looked at me longingly, and we made out again. This time it seemed less real, like I was getting something I was never meant to have... and yet I was. It almost felt surreal, somehow...

Afterwards, we settled in, and I drew closer to her warm body, suddenly feeling cold. We wrapped our arms around each other, and fell into a blissful sleep...

* * *

Neo's Notes

Right then, ended up as a bit more of a first chapter than I expected... regardless, enjoy. Laters!


End file.
